Learn How to Love Healthy Foods
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Lessen Bitter Smells

People often turn their noses up at cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower, Brussels sprouts or broccoli, and for good reason: "With cruciferous vegetables, we often think they just taste bitter, but data suggests that the aroma is also a big part that people are reacting to," says Lim. Cauliflower and company contain smelly sulfurous compounds, which are there, in part, to protect the plants from animals and insects. (Those same compounds deliver cancer-fighting benefits.) But "masking the smell of broccoli and other bitter vegetables can easily change our flavor perception," says Stuckey. She suggests steaming the vegetables, which releases the sulfurous smell. "The process liberates some of the most volatile aromas, but since those smelly compounds will then be in the air, you'll want to eat in a different room than where your vegetables were cooked." Another option: roasting. "This cooking process enhances any natural sugars in the plants and can counterbalance the aroma," says Stuckey.